


First Date

by afteriwake



Series: Can You Keep A Secret? [5]
Category: The Mentalist
Genre: Dinner, F/M, First Dates, Good Date, Goodnight Kiss, Rooftop Dining, Secret Relationship, Vegetarians & Vegans, Wayne Rigsby Cooks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-13
Updated: 2017-11-13
Packaged: 2019-02-01 16:15:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12708459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: While not exactly what's expected, their first date goes quite well...especially when they get on the same page that itisthe first date.





	First Date

**Author's Note:**

> For one round of **stagesoflove" > I had Wayne/Grace for a claim. The prompt was " _Five stages of love (romance)_ ". This is also a prompt answer for **au_developments** (" _Beginnings_ ") and **30_secrets** (" _Taste_ ").**

“So, I know you have a weekend off,” Wayne said casually one day while they were driving to a witness’s house in San Francisco. “And I was wondering if you had plans.”

“Yes. I plan on sleeping in late, and just doing nothing important. For at least one day, anyway,” Grace replied.

“How would you like dinner?”

“You mean, with you?” she asked, slightly surprised.

“Yeah. I can actually cook, and…I figured I’d make you something. If you wanted to, of course.”

“I think I’d like that a lot,” she said with a smile.

He risked a glance at her and smiled back before turning his attention to the road. “Okay, then. Saturday?”

“Saturday is fine with me,” she said with a nod. “When should I come over?”

“Eight? I know it’s a little late, but since I still have to work…”

“Eight’s fine,” she said. “Any idea what you’ll cook?”

He shook his head. “Anything you want?”

“Not really. Just something healthy. I mean, I know you’ve been eating more healthy stuff lately, so…”

“I can do healthy,” he said with a nod. “So I should just surprise you?”

“Yeah,” she said with a smile. “I think this is a surprise I would like.”

“Okay, then,” he replied. “I’ll surprise you.”

“Okay,” she said with a nod of her own. “Then I’m looking forward to Saturday.”

**\---**

She knocked on the door of his apartment at eight on Saturday once before noticing that there was a note at eye level. Taking a closer look she saw her name was on the note. With a sigh, she opened it up and then blinked. _I’m up on the roof. Take the stairs all the way up._ And then she smiled and put the note in her pocket and headed up to the roof.

This was the first time she’d really spent any time at Wayne’s building, and she wasn’t expecting what she saw at the top of the stairs. It looked as though someone had made the roof an outdoor lounge area. There were all weather chairs scattered around, and small tables set nearby them so people could enjoy themselves. She wished her apartment building was set up like this.

Then she caught sight of the large table and saw Wayne setting up the finishing touches to dinner. Watching him move around made her feel happier than she had most of the day. He had really put a lot of thought into dinner and making it nice. She was touched.

She cleared her throat and he turned around, surprised for a moment but then looking at her with a huge smile on his face. “You’re not early, are you? I kind of lost track of time.”

“No, I’m on time. Is everything ready yet?”

He nodded. “Just finished setting the plates out.”

She moved closer. “What’s for dinner?”

“Well, there’s eggplant parmigiana for the main course, and berry cobbler for dessert,” he said, pulling out a chair when she got to the table. “My neighbor makes it for me every once in a while when she thinks I haven’t been eating enough homemade food. I asked her to make some today and she was nice enough to do it.”

“And you’re okay with all that?” she asked, sitting down.

He nodded. “It’s all vegetarian-friendly.”

“You know, sometimes I forget you’ve gone vegetarian,” she said. “Don’t you miss meat?”

“Sometimes. There are days I’d kill for a steak. But…I think it’s the right way to live,” he said with a slight shrug. “I end up taking more vitamins, though.” 

She laughed as he sat down and handed her a covered dish. She opened it and shut her eyes for a moment as the wonderful aromas hit her. “Wow. That smells amazing.”

“It should taste amazing, too,” he said with a grin as she served herself. “It’s kind of a homemade sauce. I mean, it’s not from a jar or something.”

She handed him the dish back and took a bite as he served up his own portion. “Wayne, this _is_ amazing,” she said. “I had no idea you could cook like this.”

“It’s a hobby,” he said.

“If you ever want to cook for me again the answer is yes. Anytime,” she said.

He grinned as he watched her dig into the food. So far, so good…

**\---**

The evening went spectacularly. Conversation flowed, even when they limited the conversation to anything but work. In fact, for a little while, they spent more time talking than eating, and the cobbler was cold by the time they got to it. At ten, though, Wayne reluctantly realized he had to call an end to the night.

“Let me help you take everything down,” Grace said as she stood up.

“I can do it,” he said.

“No, I insist,” she said, picking up the dish that had held the eggplant parmigiana. “I mean, I had a great night, but you have to work tomorrow and it’s not fair to keep you up for a while trying to get all this down by yourself.”

“Okay,” he said with a nod, gathering up the dishes.

“This was a good date,” she said.

“You considered it a date?” he asked.

“You didn’t?”

“Dates are where you go out,” he said.

“I think this was a date because you asked me to come here tonight and have dinner with you,” she said. “I know we won’t be able to date like normal people do unless we both leave the city to do it. So…this is a date.”

“Then, this was our first date, wasn’t it?” he said.

“Yes it was,” she said with a smile.

He mulled on this as they got everything downstairs and into his apartment. He offered to walk her down to her car, and she accepted. When they got down there, they stood looking at each other for a moment before he spoke up. “We should have another date soon.”

She nodded. “We should. And next time I should cook.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll have to do some research on vegetarian dishes, but I’ll come up with something,” she said with a smile. “Well, good night.”

“Night,” he said.

She took a step forward and kissed him softly. After a second he put an arm around her waist and held her closer, not deepening the kiss but just continuing it. After a few minutes, she pulled away and gave him one last smile before getting into her car. He watched her drive off with a huge grin on his face. He realized that that had probably been one of his best first dates ever, and he hoped the rest were just as good as this date had been.


End file.
